In northern Russia you will find the beautiful, inland White Sea. Part of the Arctic Ocean basin, it is rich in marine and bird life. Every winter, Greenland seals make their rookeries in the vast openness. The uninhabited islands teem with bird colonies and the sea is home to whales. Between Autumn and April the sky will often light up with the colours of the Aurora Borealis.

Underwater there is a peculiar mixture of temperate and arctic species, with visibility of 30-40 metres, the landscape is magnificent with rock walls plunging into the depths, swaying kelp and ice masses towering on the surface. Cod, wolf-fish, sea perch and butter fish may be encountered along with soft corals, sponges, bright sea anemones, sea stars and huge basket stars, crabs, urchins, and shrimps, plus plankton forms such as Sea Angel Mollusk or big flickering comb jellies which are unique to this area.

During the long winter the temperature may fall to minus 40C, and the ice may be 1.5 metres thick. The annual ice diving programs run from mid-February to mid-April.

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